1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oral care composition which comprises particulate calcium carbonate as the main or major abrasive cleaning agent.
2. The Related Art
Particulate calcium carbonate is a well-known abrasive cleaning agent in oral care compositions such as toothpastes, and toothpastes with this abrasive cleaning agents have found their way to the market place. While this abrasive cleaning agent is an acceptable abrasive cleaning agent in terms of its abrasivity, it suffers from a major drawback in that it is incompatible with fluorine-providing active ingredients in toothpastes, such as alkalimetal fluorides, which are commonly incorporated into toothpastes to provide for an anti-caries benefit.
This problem was already recognised a long time ago, and in GB-A-907,417 (Ericsson) it was proposed to overcome this drawback by using an alkalimetal monofluorophosphate instead of an alkalimetal fluoride as anti-caries agent.
In FR-A-2,251,309 (Beecham) it was proposed to use a mixture of an alkalimetal fluoride and an alkalimetal monofluorophosphate to overcome the inactivation of the fluoride by the calcium carbonate. However, while such systems can indeed result in less inactivation of the fluorine-providing anti-caries agent by the calcium carbonate, there is frequently still too much loss of the active fluorine to provide for an acceptable, efficacious anti-caries benefit.